Diving board



p 9, 1967 R. L. ERICKSON 3,342,483

DIVING BOARD Filed Sept. 28, 1964 FIG. 5

Inventors:

Roger L. Erickson Maurice W. Cole their Atfor ey United States Patent 3,342,483 DIVING EQARD Roger L. Erickson and Maurice W. Cole, Austin, Tex., assignors to The Perry Company, Austin, Tex., a corporation Filed Sept. 28, 1964, Ser. No. 3995M 1 Claim. (Cl. 272-66) This invention relates to diving boards and has for its principal object the provision of a relatively short length diving board particularly suited for homes, motels, and such places where the pool is relatively small or the deck area is somewhat limited, wherein the propelling force imparted to the diver by the short board resembles that given by a much longer diving board.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a diving board in which one end of the board is spring pressed to hold the board normally about horizontal but the board is free to move about a fixed fulcrum upon which an intermediate portion of the diving board rests so that the spring action is augmented by the lever action about the fulcrum.

A further object of the invention is to provide a diving board so mounted that it need not flex and consequently will have a far greater life.

A still further object is to provide a short diving board of such length as to give maximum pitching eifect.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a central section through a diving board embodying the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a section on line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view including the diving board.

The springboard is of electronically laminated material and diifers from ordinary diving boards in that it is quite short, seven feet long being adequate as that length permits the centerline of the anchor bolts and anchor plate to be about six feet from the extreme tip of the board which extends over the pool.

The board rests upon a fulcrum 11 shown as a short section of steel pipe of a length about the width of the board, although it may be shorter. It is preferred to prevent sidewise movement of the board on the fulcrum so for this purpose a channel-shaped piece 14 is attached to the under side of the board and its two flanges extend down over the sides of the upper strap 15 of the cantilever extension 16 of the casing which supports the fulcrum, this channel 14 preventing the slight side slip which might otherwise occur.

Near the anchored end of the diving board is mounted securing means 17 which includes a long substantially vertical bolt having an elongated strap-like head 19 welded to its stem 20'. The flat bar bolt head 19 is secured to the diving board 10 close to the near side of the cantilever extension. The casing or stand housing may include an inclined cylinder 27 having a square base 28 at its bottom and a narrow segmental stiifening plate 29 at its top. Also at or near the top of the cylinder 27 a larger transverse anchoring member 34} is welded slightly below the level of the top of the casing cylinder 27. The upper strap 15 of the cantilever extension 16 is generally fit but as it comes over the rim of the cylinder 27 is her down inside of the latter to meet flush with the anchorin member 30 which is slanted slightly upward to meet th strap where these two members are welded together.

The elongated stem 20 of the securing member slide freely through a central hole in the anchoring membe 30. Below this fixed anchor 30 the securing means include two spring retaining members 32 and 33 loosely mounte on stem 20 but kept from movement by the spring an by the adjusting nut 34 which controls the pressure 0 the helical spring 35 and therefore the downward puI on the rear end of the diving board. Dampening is prc vided by rubber bumpers 36 at both sides of the fixer anchor member and at the center of the stiffening seg ment 29, also by white rubber fulcrum cover 12 upoi which the board 10 rests lightly.

The cantilever extension 16 of the casing 25, in addi tion to the upper straight strap 15 includes a lower curvet strap 18 and a somewhat triangular steel plate 40 welder to the cylinder 27 and to both straps to form a beam 0 which the two straps may be considered flanges as in a1 I-beam.

The square base 28 of the housing or casing 25 is se cured to the concrete floor or deck 42 by nuts 43 on fou suitably spaced half-inch anchor bolts 44 joined by hori zontal reinforcing steel bars 46 all set in place at the tim the concrete deck is poured.

What we claim is:

In combination, a diving board supported between it: ends and adapted to extend over a portion of a swimming pool, a housing including a rearwardly leaning suppon cylinder, a cantilever extension therefrom including 2 generally triangular steel plate with a straight strap at the top and a curved strap at the bottom of the plate to form strengthening flanges, a horizontal fulcrum member supporting the diving board and secured to both straps at their point of juncture, a channel member secured to the diving board with its downwardly extending parallel arms bracketing the straight strap to limit sidewise movement of the board on its fulcrum, a flat transverse bar welded to the top strap and secured to the top of the cylinder to form an anchoring member, a bolt having a transverse head secured to the diving board near its two opposite sides, and a helical spring adjustably mounted on the stem of the bolt urging the inner end of the diving board downwardly toward the anchoring member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,858,915 11/1958 Patterson 272--66 X FOREIGN PATENTS 372,882 5/1932 Great Britain.

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner. RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Examiner. L. J. BOVASSO, A. W. KRAMER, Assistant Examiners. 

